


What Happens on the High Seas

by princx_andromeda



Series: Penumbra WLW Week [2]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24371161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princx_andromeda/pseuds/princx_andromeda
Summary: Captain Buddy Aurinko was not the most feared pirate on the seas, but she did pretty well for herself, if you asked her. And she had her loyal crew- mostly loyal crew. Really, with pirates, you couldn’t expect much more than mostly. Sure, they were all in it for themselves, but they worked together well enough. Mostly. Buddy could admit that things had been rocky at first, when she had brought Rita and Juno aboard, but they had smoothed things out. Mostly. They’re working on it.Rita wasn’t the problem. Or, she was an entirely different sort of problem for Buddy and her wife.
Relationships: Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay, Rita/Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay
Series: Penumbra WLW Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758328
Comments: 10
Kudos: 17
Collections: READ MORE WLW FIC COWARDS





	What Happens on the High Seas

Captain Buddy Aurinko was not the most feared pirate on the seas, but she did pretty well for herself, if you asked her. And she had her loyal crew- mostly loyal crew. Really, with pirates, you couldn’t expect much more than mostly. Sure, they were all in it for themselves, but they worked together well enough. Mostly. Buddy could admit that things had been rocky at first, when she had brought Rita and Juno aboard, but they had smoothed things out. Mostly. They’re working on it.   
Rita wasn’t the problem. Or, she was an entirely different sort of problem for Buddy and her wife.   
“She’s just so cute!” Vespa groaned, shoving her face into the pillow. Buddy laughed, patting her shoulder. Vespa wasn’t a person who was used to comfort, who was used to people being kind to her with no ulterior motives. Rita, of course, had taken her by surprise. Had taken them all by surprise. And Buddy had always loved a surprise.   
“Ask for the things you want, Vespa,” she said, carding her fingers through her wife’s hair. “If it goes badly, we can fire them at the next port.”   
Vespa laughed, turning over to look at Buddy. “As long as it gets rid of Juno,” she said. Buddy rolled her eyes, leaning down to kiss Vespa. 

Ask for the things you want. Vespa stood on the deck, watching Rita fiddle with a compass. Buddy’s words from the night before rang in her ears, reminding her that she could get what she wanted, sometimes. She had never thought herself deserving of good things, had always taken what she got. But with Buddy, she had gotten the best thing. Anything else on top was just extra. But maybe she could have the extra, too. Maybe, just maybe, she deserved to be happy.   
Rita glanced up at her compass, squinting into the sun. Her face brightened when she saw Vespa, and she bounded across the deck.   
“Hey, Miss Vespa. Did you need something?”   
Vespa smiled, small and a bit shy. Rita couldn’t shake the habit of calling everyone Miss and Mister, all the time. It might have been annoying, but Vespa accidentally found it endearing instead. At least she had managed to talk Rita up from Miss Ilkay, or even- just once- Mrs. Aurinko.   
“Uh, wanted to talk to you,” Vespa said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Rita beamed up at her- up, because Rita was the only person on the ship, and maybe in the world, who was shorter than Vespa herself.   
“Sure, what’s up?” Rita asked, tucking her compass away. Vespa swallowed, glancing somewhere over Rita’s head. It was like staring into the goddamn sun, having Rita’s whole attention focused on you.   
“Well- I just-” Vespa began, frantically searching for the words. I want to kiss you, and don’t worry about my wife/your boss because she would also like to be involved. Yeah, she should have practiced what she was going to say. She glanced back down at Rita, who was frowning.   
“Everything okay?” she asked, tilting her head to one side. Vespa swallowed. Fuck it.   
“Do you, uh, want to have dinner with the captain and I?” she asked, all in a rush. Rita’s face went back to beaming.   
“Sure! I mean, Juno might not like it, but it’s not like he don’t have a distraction of his own lately. I would offer to bring something, it’s just polite, but I don’t got anything on hand, no wine or nothing.”   
“No, that’s okay,” Vespa said quickly, putting a hand on Rita’s shoulder. “Just bring yourself.” 

Rita stood in front of the doors to the Captain’s Quarters, fussing nervously with her jacket. Usually, everyone on the Carte Blanche dressed casually- the long days at sea weren’t meant for extravagance- but Rita had gotten in the habit of dressing up when she was nervous. Something about the careful layers, about making herself look neat and tidy- calmed her nerves. And she had a lot of nerves.   
Especially when she was about to have dinner, alone, with Captain Aurinko and Vespa Ilkay. It’s not like she didn’t know what this was. Okay, so it wasn’t like she had a lot of options out at sea. Mister Steel was already in bed with Ransom, and as far as Rita could tell Jet didn’t bed anyone- not that she would go for him, but still. Plus, they were sort of her type. The Captain, commanding and reliable but kind. Vespa, usually stoic and silent, but who had shown RIta a side of her she had never seen today- slightly awkward, nervous, but cute. Okay, yeah, she was cute. Rita took a deep breath and knocked. The door swung open almost instantly, and Rita startled back. “Oh! Hi, Miss Vespa,” she said, tugging at her jacket again in an attempt to get it to lay flatter.   
“Hey, come in,” Vespa said, stepping aside. “Here, let me take your coat.”   
Captain Aurinko was sitting at a small wooden table set with three places, looking like she was trying very hard to act casual and totally failing. Rita allowed Vespa to help her out of her coat, and Vespa went to hang it on a hook next to her’s and the Captain’s.   
“Hello, Rita,” the Captain said, standing up. “It’s nice to have you.”   
“Well, it’s not like I had anywhere else to be, Captain Aurinko,” she said. The Captain nodded, pulling out one of the chairs.   
“Please, it’s Buddy,” she said. Rita took the offered seat.   
“Okay, Buddy,” she said. “Nice place you got here. Very cosy. You know, I never been in a Captain’s room before, I sort of expected it to be fancier, but it’s very nice.” She cleared her throat, staring down at her plate. “I mean, nice to be here. Buddy, Vespa.” 

The first thing Buddy noticed when Rita sat down was that her feet didn’t quite touch the floor. Her boots hung a few inches above the worn wood, and she swung them slightly as she talked. The second thing Buddy noticed was that Rita talked when she was nervous. Of course, she knew that Rita liked to talk, but it had never quite been like this before. THe worst part was that she seemed to be trying to stop herself from talking, which made long-forgotten pain ache in Buddy’s chest. She reached her foot out casually to knock against Rita’s, and the swinging stopped. Rita glanced towards her, face unsure. Buddy smiled, nodding slightly. She wanted to hear what Rita had to say about the romance novels she bought at every port, and about the seas and the weather and her odd friendship with Juno Steel. Buddy wanted to know everything.   
“Next time we’re in port I gotta find a new copy, cause I wasn’t finished with it but sea water is not good for books, and I can’t hardly read the last few chapters!” Rita continued. Buddy wasn’t quite sure how Rita was consuming any of her dinner, but it was disappearing off her plate steadily. Well, as long as she wasn’t actively spewing food, it was probably fine. Vespa reached out to touch Buddy’s leg under the table, a hesitant smile on her face. Buddy smiled back, reaching down to twine their fingers together. Good job, Vespa.

After they were done eating, Rita hovered awkwardly next to the table for a moment. Vespa watched her glance towards the door, just a small thing. She frowned, scrambling to come up with a way to keep Rita here. “Hey, you don’t gotta go so soon, Rita,” she said. Rita glanced up at her, eyes wide. “You can, uh, stay? If you want.”   
“Oh, I don’t want to impose on you and your wife-” Rita started, fidgeting with her coat. She hadn’t put it back on yet, which was a good sign.   
“It’s not an imposition,” Buddy said. “Of course, you’re free to leave, but we would like you to stay for awhile.”   
Rita nodded, hanging her coat back on the hook. “If you’re sure,” she said. Buddy nodded, walking towards the couch. Vespa waited next to the table, holding a hand out to Rita. “Come on,” she said, trying to make her voice gentle. Rita nodded, taking her hand and allowing Vespa to lead her to the couch. Vespa sat on the opposite side from Buddy, putting Rita between them. For once, Rita seemed at a loss for words. It seemed a big thing, to render Rita quiet. Vespa wasn’t sure if it was a good thing, though.   
“You really can go, if you want,” Vespa said. Rita shook her head quickly.   
“I want to be here, really!” she said. “I just don’t know why-”   
Buddy reached out to take one of Rita’s hands. “We want you here, too,” she said. Rita nodded.   
“But do you want me to be here, or just someone? Cause I can be just someone, if that’s what you’re looking for, but I need to know that, cause I don’t want to get my hopes up-”   
“Hey, no, stop,” Vespa said, turning to face her more fully. “It’s not like that, Rita.”   
Buddy lifted Rita’s hand to her mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m sorry we weren’t clear, Rita,” she said. “We want you, Rita.”  
Rita nodded, relaxing slightly into the couch. Vespa smiled, leaning over to bump her shoulder into Rita’s. You can have the things you want. 

The next morning, Rita crept into the crew quarters. It was very early, and she hoped Juno would still be asleep. Hoped that no one had noticed her empty hammock last night.   
“What are you doing?” a sleepy voice asked, Rita jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding knocking into another hammock. Juno was sitting up, rubbing at his face tiredly.   
“Uh, nothin, Mister Steel! Just- getting an early start, you know!”   
“Rita, you’re coming from the deck,” he said. “Where were you last night?”   
“Nowhere! Just had to get away from your snoring, boss!”   
Juno rolled his eyes. “Okay, so don’t tell me. But Rita?”   
“Yeah, Mister Steel?”   
“You should fix your hair before anyone else sees you.”   
Rita flushed, frantically dragging her fingers through her hair.


End file.
